Title

Author

Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Judith Cornelius

Abstract

Through discussion with the community health system's administration, it was identified that their current nursing orientation program was not well structured or comprehensive. The nursing staff also reported dissatisfaction with the current program. Therefore, a Doctor of Nursing Practice project commenced to develop an evidence-based nursing orientation program for Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) at a community health system in Virginia. The Competency Outcomes Performance Assessment model guided development of the project through a comprehensive literature review to identify evidence-based data for competencies, learning strategies, and performance evaluations. This review highlighted the importance and benefits of nursing orientation programs as well as the use of evidence-based strategies. As a result of this review, an evidence-based nursing orientation program was developed to meet the needs of the nursing staff as well as the organization. The evidence-based nursing orientation program was translated into an electronic format with an accompanying manual to be used when nurses are hired by the community health system. An advisory board from the organization reviewed the program and their feedback was incorporated. Social change is expected to occur, as nurses will be better prepared for their new position with increased job satisfaction and also to provide optimal care to patients from the community. This project addressed a gap in the literature for generalized nursing orientation programs. Publication in a peer-reviewed journal or oral presentation at the Virginia Community Healthcare Association annual conference was selected for project dissemination.